Jože Javoršek facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jože Javoršek
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| Born | October 20, 1920 Velike Lašče, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (now in Slovenia) |
| Died | September 2, 1990 (aged 69) Ljubljana, Slovenia |
| Occupation | Playwright, writer, essayist |
| Literary movement | Existentialism, Surrealism, Theatre of the Absurd |
Jože Javoršek was the pen name of Jože Brejc (born October 20, 1920 – died September 2, 1990). He was a Slovenian writer, poet, and translator. Many people see him as one of the best Slovenian authors when it comes to writing style and language. Javoršek was a deep thinker and a person who often caused debate. He is often seen as a key example of the Slovenian thinkers from the World War II and post-war times.
Life
Jože Brejc was born in a small town called Velike Lašče in what was then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He later studied literature at the University of Ljubljana. During his time as a student, he joined groups that believed in Christian Socialism. Here, he met the poet Edvard Kocbek, who greatly encouraged Javoršek to become a writer.
During World War II, Javoršek joined the Partisan resistance. This was a group fighting against the occupation of their country. He fought alongside other famous writers and thinkers. It was during this time that he started using the pen name Jože Javoršek. After the war ended in 1945, he worked for Edvard Kocbek, who became a government minister. Javoršek continued his studies in Paris, France, at the Sorbonne. He also worked briefly at the Yugoslav embassy there. In Paris, he met many French thinkers and writers, becoming good friends with some of them, like Albert Camus.
He came back to Slovenia in 1948. The next year, he was put in prison by the Communist government. He was sentenced to 12 years but was let out in 1952.
After being released, he worked mainly as a playwright and stage director in theatres in Ljubljana. He was one of the first to bring new styles of theatre to Slovenia, like surrealist and absurdist plays. These plays often showed strange or illogical situations to make a point. He worked with directors who shared his modern ideas. Javoršek helped stage plays based on the ideas of famous theatre thinkers. His new ideas challenged the government's rules for culture. This made him important to a younger group of Slovenian artists and writers. This group, called the Critical generation, started exploring deeper, more philosophical questions in their art. Even so, Javoršek sometimes disagreed with the very modern ideas of these younger artists.
From 1961 to 1967, Javoršek worked at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He then worked as a secretary for the Academy's president until 1982.
He passed away in Ljubljana in 1990 and was buried in his hometown of Velike Lašče. A special plaque was placed on his birthplace in the 1990s to remember him.
Work
Javoršek wrote many different kinds of works, including poems, plays, novels, and essays. He started writing poetry as a teenager, publishing in left-wing magazines. After World War II, he published a book of his war poems. After his time in prison, he focused more on plays, essays, and prose (like novels). He also published another collection of poems later in his life.
Javoršek became well-known mostly for his plays. His early plays explored deep human questions but were also full of humor and clever wordplay. These plays helped modernize Slovenian theatre in the 1950s. In his plays, he often criticized political powers and people who just followed the crowd.
He wrote several novels, including Hvalnica zemlji ("An Ode to the Earth", 1971) and Nevarna razmerja ("Dangerous Liaisons", 1978). However, he gained the most attention and caused the most discussion with his essays and memoirs. His book Srečanja ("Encounters", 1971) was a collection of essays. Another book, Eseji o slovenski umetnosti ("Essays on Slovene Art", 1974), looked at Slovenian art. He also wrote a guide to Ljubljana, where he described the city's sights and history in a thoughtful and sometimes funny way. The novel Nevarna razmerja was written like a series of letters, some real and some made up, between Javoršek and famous people.
In his last works, La Memoire Dangereuse ("The Dangerouse Memory") and Spomini na Slovence ("Memories of the Slovenes"), he wrote about his own memories. These books gave a very honest, and sometimes critical, look at the people he knew during his life.
He also wrote important essays about famous writers like Molière and Shakespeare. He admired the 19th-century Slovenian writer Fran Levstik and helped get his works republished. Before he died, he also helped with a book about Slovenian history and literature published in Paris.
Javoršek was also a translator. He translated many important authors into Slovene, mostly from French and Serbo-Croatian. These included writers like Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre.
Personality
During his life, Javoršek was seen as a unique and often debated person. He had a complicated relationship with the government and sometimes strongly criticized other writers. This earned him the nickname The Lonely Rider. His last work, "Memories of the Slovenes," caused a lot of discussion. It shared many details about the Slovenian cultural scene during and after the war. He wrote about the actions of influential thinkers and poets, including those he worked for. He also included details about the personal lives of some Slovenian Communist leaders.
Even though he was imprisoned, Javoršek remained a strong supporter of Socialism. While he started as a Christian Socialist, he later moved away from Christianity. He adopted a way of thinking that focused on life's energy and questioning things.
Javoršek saw himself mainly as a theatre manager, not just a writer. He often said he had the freedom of a court jester. He liked to compare himself to famous playwrights who were also theatre managers, like Shakespeare and Molière. He explained his view of his role in society in an essay called Shakespeare and Politics.
Influence and legacy
Even though he tried to avoid direct conflicts with the Communist government after prison, Javoršek was a key person behind the creation of Stage '57. This was an alternative theatre started in 1957 by younger Slovenian artists. It played a very important role in helping their generation express themselves against the government's strict cultural rules. During his lifetime, he became known in other parts of Yugoslavia, especially in Serbia. Some people consider him one of the best essayists in Slovene. His book La Memoire Dangereuse, published in the 1980s in France, brought him recognition outside of Yugoslavia. This book was also translated into German and Serbo-Croatian.
Personal life
Javoršek's first wife passed away while he was in prison. He later married the translator Marija Kiauta.
See also
- Slovenian literature
- Culture of Slovenia
- Liberation Front of the Slovenian People
